Cynthia T
By Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Our Reference: LEX 686
Freedom of Information request
1. I am writing about your Freedom of Information (FOI) request under the
Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) made
19 October 2023 for access to documents held
by the Australian Public Service Commission (Commission).
2. The FOI Act and all other Commonwealth legislation referred to in this letter are
publicly available from www.legislation.gov.au.
Documents relevant to your request
3. You requested access to the following:
“Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth), I request any reports on the
operations of the Australian Public Service Commission given during the 2022-2023
financial year by the Commonwealth Ombudsman.”
Decision on your FOI request
4. I am authorised under subsection 23(1) of the FOI Act to make FOI decisions.
5. I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to find documents within scope
of your request, and that no such documents meeting the description of what you have
asked for can be found or exist.
6. As such, I refuse your request for access to documents pursuant to section 24A of the
FOI Act.
Reasons for decision
Section 24A – documents that cannot be found or do not exist
7. Subsection 24A(1) of the FOI Act provides:
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
8. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has issued guidelines
pursuant to section 93A of the FOI Act. At paragraphs 3.88 to 3.93 of these
guidelines, the OAIC provides guidance as to the meaning of the term ‘all reasonable
steps’ in subsection 24A(1).
9. Under paragraph 3.88 of the guidelines, ‘all reasonable steps’ is taken to mean ‘not
going beyond the limit assigned by reason, not extravagant or excessive, moderate
and of such an amount, size or number as is judged to be appropriate or suitable to the
circumstances or purpose’.
10. Under paragraph 3.89 of the guidelines, at a minimum an agency takes ‘all reasonable
steps’ having regard to the:
subject matter of the documents
current and past file management systems and the practice of destruction or removal
of documents
record management systems in place
individuals within an agency or minister’s office who may be able to assist with the
location of documents, and the age of documents
11. To satisfy myself that ‘all reasonable steps’ would be taken I required the relevant
area of the Commission to conduct a search of all records for ‘
reports on the
operations of the Australian Public Service Commission given during the 2022-2023
financial year by the Commonwealth Ombudsman', and no relevant documents were
found.
12. Further, I requested an email search through the Commission’s information technology
services provider, for all emails between the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the any
Commission email addresses from 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023 with the search
parameters “Reports AND Operations”, and no relevant documents were found.
13. After all reasonable searches, no documents were identified as falling within the scope
of your request.
14. In coming to this conclusion, I am satisfied that for the purposes of paragraphs 3.88 and
3.89 of the guidelines, all reasonable searches were conducted.
Contacts
15. If you require clarification on matters in this letter please contact the Commission’s
FOI Officer by telephone on (02) 6202 3813 or by email at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Review rights
16. You are entitled to seek review of this decision. Your review rights are set out at
Attachment A.
Yours sincerely,
Melanie McIntyre
FOI decision maker
19 November 2023
ATTACHMENT A
Rights of Review
Asking for a full explanation of a Freedom of Information decision If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may seek review. Before you seek review of a
Freedom of Information (FOI) decision, you may contact us to discuss your request and we
will explain the decision to you.
Seeking review of a Freedom of Information decision If you still believe a decision is incorrect, the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act) may
give you the right to apply for a review of the decision. Under sections 54 and 54L of the FOI Act,
you can apply for a review of an FOI decision by seeking:
1. an internal review by an different officer of the Australian Public Service Commission;
and/or
2. external review by the Australian Information Commissioner.
There are no fees applied to either review option.
Applying for a review by an Internal Review Officer If you apply for internal review, a different decision maker to the departmental delegate who
made the original decision will carry out the review. The Internal Review Officer will consider
all aspects of the original decision and decide whether it should change. An application for
internal review must be made in writing within 30 days of receiving this letter to:
Email: xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post: The FOI Officer
Australian Public Service Commission
B Block, Treasury Building
GPO Box 3176
Parkes Place West
PARKES ACT 2600
You do not need to fill in a form. However, it is a good idea to set out any relevant submissions
you would like the Internal Review Officer to further consider, and your reasons for
disagreeing with the decision.
Applying for external review by the Australian Information Commissioner If you do not agree with the original FOI decision or the internal review decision, you can ask
the Australian Information Commissioner to review the decision. You have 60 days to apply in
writing for a review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the OAIC)
from the date you received this letter or any subsequent internal review decision.
You can
lodge your application:
Online:
www.oaic.gov.au Post: Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
The OAIC encourage applicants to apply online. Where possible, to assist the OAIC you should
include your contact information, a copy of the related FOI decision and provide details of your
reasons for objecting to the decision.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner and Commonwealth Ombudsman
Information Commissioner You may complain to the Information Commissioner concerning action taken by an agency in
the exercise of powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act. There is no fee for
making a complaint. A complaint to the Information Commissioner must be made in writing.
The Information Commissioner's contact details are:
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Commonwealth Ombudsman You may complain to the Ombudsman concerning action taken by an agency in the exercise of
powers or the performance of functions under the FOI Act. There is no fee for making a
complaint. A complaint to the Ombudsman may be made in person, by telephone or in writing.
The Ombudsman's contact
details are:
Phone: 1300 362 072
Website:
www.ombudsman.gov.au
